is a Japanese adult visual novel, developed by Tactics, a brand of Nexton, released on May 29, 1998 playable on Windows PCs. The erotic content was later removed when the game was ported to the PlayStation, which also contains an additional route. The story follows the life of Kōhei Orihara, a high school student who has fun spending time with several girls about his age, while at the same time he is gradually being drawn into a mystical alternate space known as the Eternal World.
The gameplay in One follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character. The game ranked several times in the national top 50 for best-selling PC games sold in Japan. A sequel loosely based on One titled One 2: Eien no Yakusoku was produced by BaseSon, another brand under Nexton, and was released in April 2002. An enhanced remake, titled One., was released in December 2023 for Windows and the Nintendo Switch, and it is also available in English by Shiravune.
Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand Key. KSS produced a four-episode all ages original video animation (OVA) series between 2001 and 2002 titled One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e. Cherry Lips produced a three-episode adult OVA series between 2003 and 2004 titled One: True Stories. One: True Stories was later licensed for English language distribution by Media Blasters. Comic anthologies and four novels were also published, as were audio dramas.
Plot Setting and gameplay The main part Ones story takes place at a Japanese high school, though little is shown except for Kōhei's classroom, the cafeteria, and a little of the surrounding area. The main school building is three-stories, and the roof is accessible, albeit with a sign on the roof's access door saying "No Entry", but the door is never locked regardless. Adjacent to the main building is another which houses club rooms. The school borders a forest on one side with a chain link fence. Beyond the forest is a park with a fountain and a flight of stairs on a hill. Other than the school, the shopping district in town and the usual path Kōhei takes to school are shown, but otherwise the only other place depicted is Kōhei's two-story house.
One is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Kōhei Orihara. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. One follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction. There are six main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. In the adult versions of the game, there are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Kōhei and a given heroine having sex. Later, ports of the game were released without the erotic content.
Characters Kōhei Orihara is a young man in high school living a normal life. He tends to tease the girls he knows, especially his childhood friend Mizuka Nagamori, but deep down he is generally nice to girls. Mizuka usually takes good care of him, and worries about Kōhei, wondering if he could suddenly get a girlfriend. She is constantly sighing, being made to go along with Kōhei's meaningless jokes. Kōhei meets a transfer student named Rumi Nanase early in the story whose goal is to become a "true maiden" and to that end, she behaves maidenly toward those around her, but she shows her true character just to Kōhei, who leaves a terrible first impression. Kōhei gets to know a quiet classmate named Akane Satomura who does not readily open her heart up to those around her, and refuses any help Kōhei may offer.
Kōhei also meets a blind upperclassman named Misaki Kawana who has a sociable personality where she can be unreserved with anyone. A mute underclassman girl named Mio Kōzuki meets Kōhei one day and uses a sketchbook to carry on written conversations. She belongs to the drama club, and despite not being able to speak, can still show emotion through various abundant expressions. The last girl Kōhei gets to know is a childish junior high school student named Mayu Shiina who refuses to go to school. Her one and only friend she could trust in life, a ferret named Myū, dies shortly before she meets Kōhei and the other main characters.
Story The story revolves around Kōhei Orihara, the main protagonist. His father died when he was very young, followed by his younger sister Misao and finally his mother. Deeply depressed, he goes to live with his aunt Yukiko, his mother's younger sister, about ten years before Ones story begins on November 30, 1998. After he meets Mizuka Nagamori as a child, Kōhei begins to seclude himself in the Eternal World, a world within his mind. The game's main recurring motif is a focus on the Eternal World, a mystical alternate space which is never clearly explained, and the details of which are unknown. Shun Hikami's remarks in the original game are possible clues about the Eternal World.
The Eternal World is a place similar to the afterlife where a person's "other self" awaits. Anyone can access it, though it is only accessible once one has lost his or her grounding in the real world. It may be necessary to form a pledge with someone in the real world as a guide to the Eternal World, but one's memories surrounding the pledge become vague. A grace period can be granted between when the pledge is made and when someone goes to the Eternal World. Once the process has started, nothing can prevent someone from going to the Eternal World, and returning to the real world is difficult. Someone about to leave to the Eternal World starts to be forgotten approximately one week before going, and the amount of time before someone forgets differs based on how much someone thinks about the person leaving. However, he or she is remembered the moment that person returns. If a strong emotional bond is established in the real world before leaving, a person in the Eternal World can be returned after approximately one year.
Kōhei is living a normal life in high school with Mizuka, and gets to know five other girls throughout the story who he helps with their various personal problems. While Kōhei likes to joke and tease these girls, deep down he is nice to girls and genuinely wants to help them. In the story, Kōhei is able to form intimate relationships with the six heroines: Mizuka Nagamori, Rumi Nanase, Misaki Kawana, Mio Kouzuki, Mayu Shiina, and Akane Satomura. While a given relationship will start out well, before long those around him start to forget him as he begins to retreat further into the Eternal World. If Kōhei forms a strong bond with one of the girls, she alone remembers him even after he leaves to the Eternal World. This ensures his eventual return one year later when he and the girl reunite.
Development and release One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e is Tactics' third title, after Moon and Dōsei. One'''s production was headed by YET11, the pseudonym of Tsutomu Yoshizawa, who also contributed to the music in the game. Planning was led by Jun Maeda, who worked on the scenario with fellow writer Naoki Hisaya. Maeda wrote the scenarios for Mizuka, Rumi and Mayu, while Hisaya wrote the routes for Misaki, Mio and Akane. Art direction was done by Itaru Hinoue who also worked on the computer graphics along with artists Miracle Mikipon and Shinory. In addition to YET11, the soundtrack was composed by Shinji Orito, OdiakeS, M.S. and Ishisan.One was first released on May 29, 1998 in regular and limited edition versions playable on Windows PCs in CD-ROM format; the limited edition included the game's first original soundtrack. Both the limited and regular editions of the original game contained no voice acting. A promotional video for the game is still available for download at Tactics' One website. On April 1, 1999, KID released an all ages version in regular and limited editions playable on the PlayStation under the title Kagayaku Kisetsu e; the PS version contained full-voice acting and an additional route for a new heroine, Natsuki Shimizu, written by Shinji Takabayashi. On September 14, 2000, AI System released One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Memorial Selection, which was essentially the original game, though the price was cheaper at a little less than half the original price. On January 1, 2003, a full voice version of the Windows game was released by Nexton. It has different voice actors from the PS version. Kōhei was not voiced in any of the versions.
Kawamoto Industrial released a version playable on FOMA mobile phones on February 9, 2007. Magicseed released two versions without adult content: one playable on au mobile phones on March 1, 2007, and the other playable on SoftBank 3G mobile phones on July 2, 2007. The final release by Nexton was on June 1, 2007 as a Windows Vista compatible edition for the PC. Gyutto released the full-voice, Vista-compatible edition of One as a downloadable version on February 26, 2010, and DMM also made it available as a downloadable version on June 15, 2010. Regolith Innovation released a version playable on Android devices through their Drops! service and app on June 14, 2012.
Related media
Print Four adult novels based on the series, written by Midori Tateyama, were published by Movic between August 1998 and April 2000. Each volume focused on one of the main heroines in the story; volumes one through four focused on Mizuka, Akane, Misaki, and Rumi, respectively. A 143-page official fan book, which focused on Moon and One, was released by the publisher Compass in October 1998, titled Tactics Moon & One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Creation Image Collection. ASCII released a 95-page official fan book for the PlayStation version of One in October 1999.
Compass also released a manga anthology called Tactics Anthology Comic One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Chapter in May 1999. Movic released a two-volume manga anthology called One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Comic Anthology between October and December 1999. Ohzora released five volumes of manga anthologies: three in one series, and the last two as stand-alone volumes. The three-volume series is titled One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Anthology Comics and were released between May 2002 and February 2003. The first stand-alone volume called One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Dōjin Selection was released in September 2003, and the second stand-alone volume titled Hidamari One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e was released in January 2004.
AnimeOne was adapted twice into original video animation (OVA) series. The first was an all ages OVA titled One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e animated by Triple X and produced by KSS; four DVD volumes were released in Japan between August 10, 2001 and May 24, 2002. The all ages OVA is only loosely based on the original One visual novel and has a different setting. The second series, produced by Cherry Lips, was an adult OVA under the title One: True Stories, and adapted the visual novel much more closely. Three DVD volumes containing a single episode each were released between November 21, 2003 and May 28, 2004. One: True Stories was later licensed for English distribution by Media Blasters and the three episodes were released in a single volume on August 16, 2005.
Music and audio CDs